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age of winchester 97

Elbreedlove
I need to know when my Winchester 97 was made.
Serial number is 994475 witn an E above the numbers
This is stamped on the barrel
MADE IN NEW HAVEN, CONN - WINCHESTER - MODEL 97 - 12 GA - 2 3/4 CHAM.
- U.S OF AMERICA - TRADEMARK - MOD.

elbreedlove
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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • woodshermit
    1954
    0
  • Bert H.
    Most likely to be a 1955 or 1956 vintage gun.

    Bert H.

    Real Men use a SINGLE-SHOT!
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  • BOBBYWINS
    '54 by my source.

    BW

    IT'S WHAT PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THEMSELVES THAT MAKES THEM AFRAID.
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  • jnmiller75
    1954 by my source as well.
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  • Bert H.
    If you fellows are using any of the following sources of information for Winchester DOMs by serial numbers, you are putting your trust in wrong place;

    (1) Any of the various documents written by George Madis
    (2) The Blue Book of Gun Values
    (3) Armscollector.com
    (4) Oldguns.net
    (5) Dixe Gun Works
    (6) and any other online website that lists Winchester serial numbers.

    The ONLY accurate source of information concerning Winchester DOMs is the Cody Firearms Museum, or the current Winchester company (for anything made since 1981). Please note that in my first reply, I provided a slightly later date and prefaced it with "most likely". The reason for the "most likely" is because I have found (through extensive Winchester serial number research) that all of the published DOM lists are off target by at least 1-2 years (most times too early). Finally, consider this... Winchester ceased production of the Model 97 at the end of the year 1957 at circa serial number 1,025,000, and Mr. elbreedlove's Model 97 is no. 994475... only 30,525 serials before production ended. In the four year span (1954, 55, 56, & 57), Winchester produced significantly more than 30,525 Model 97s. My educated guess is that serial number 994475 was manufactured in the very late part of 1955 (December) to somewhere in the early part of 1956 (possibly as late as March)... I could be wrong though[;)].

    Bert H.

    Real Men use a SINGLE-SHOT!
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  • only winchesters
    Hello everyone: Well not to say who's right and who's wrong, but, SN 1,000,000 was presented to John M. Olin on Sept. 6th, 1951. This is out of R Stadt's book who quoted Wilson's book (1990, pg 390)

    So with that said, I'd say 1950, since S/N 994475 is only 5525 guns prior to this. From 1950-1957 less than 5,000 guns per year were made. Mostly because of the Md 12 dominance in the Pump world, and more and more people buying the various semi-autos on the the market at that time.

    Regards Dave
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  • Bert H.
    quote:Originally posted by only winchesters
    Hello everyone: Well not to say who's right and who's wrong, but, SN 1,000,000 was presented to John M. Olin on Sept. 6th, 1951. This is out of R Stadt's book who quoted Wilson's book (1990, pg 390)

    So with that said, I'd say 1950, since S/N 994475 is only 5525 guns prior to this. From 1950-1957 less than 5,000 guns per year were made. Mostly because of the Md 12 dominance in the Pump world, and more and more people buying the various semi-autos on the the market at that time.

    Regards Dave


    Hello Dave,

    Winchester was a real publicity hound when it came to their "significant" serial number production guns for several different models (the Model 1894/94, 1897/97, and 1912/12 were the their feature models for the publicity games). For the Model 1894/94, they made a big deal out of the 1 millionth, the 1.5 millionth, 2 millionth, 2.5 millionth, the 3 millionth, and finally the 3.5 millionth gun made. In each case, those serial numbers were assembled and presented significantly sooner than the guns 1-digit away.

    1,000,000 presented to President Calvin Coolidge in 1927
    1,500,000 presented to President Harry Truman on May 8th, 1948
    2,000,000 Presented to President Dwight Eisnehower in 1953
    2,500,000 assembled in 1961
    3,000,000 assembled in 1967
    3,500,000 assembled and auctioned in Las Vegas (for $18,000) in 1979

    As was normal practice for Winchester, the final year of production for each Model that was slated for discontinuation was always a big number production year (to use up all of the remaining parts on hand). According to Herbert Houze, nearly 25,000 Model 97s were assembled in the final year of production.

    Bert H.

    Real Men use a SINGLE-SHOT!
    0
  • only winchesters
    Good morning all: Hi Bert, I think most Winchester buffs realize that receivers are serialized as soon as the machining and duburring operations were completed. Then they were blued and sent to stores. When they are actually built up and assembled into a complete gun for delivery to the warehouse, is a different story.

    A good point brought out in Ned Schwing's book the Md 42. The first year 1933 Winchester made about 17,000 receivers, but only managed to build up and deliver to the warehouse for sale, about 9400 guns.

    My "guess" is back in Sept. 1950 whe they were running receivers for the old 97 and reached 1,000,000 they went ahead and built that one up for John Olin. Knowing that WWII prolonged the life of the 97, (riot and trench guns for the war and again Korea) Sales for the 97 had been way off. After the war hunters and target shooters were looking at Md 12's and the Browning A-5.

    Everything aside S/N 994475 is definately in the last 30,000 or so guns assembled prior to the end of production in 1957.

    Regards Dave
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  • steveg
    i have a winchester model 94 ser# 2835903 they say its 1965 is this true?
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  • Bert H.
    quote:Originally posted by steveg
    i have a winchester model 94 ser# 2835903 they say its 1965 is this true?


    Hello Steve... I would lean more towards it being a 1966 production year gun, but 1965 is probably close enough.

    Bert H.

    Real Men use a SINGLE-SHOT!
    0

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